Lab Faculty Job Description

Position Description - Overview:

College Unbound’s curricular model is designed around in-depth project work that is administered through an every-semester requirement of student enrollment in a 3-credit Workplace and World Lab course that runs across the 18 week semester. Students experience this weekly 3-hour in-person seminar with their learning cohort. The course acts as a bridge between a student’s project and their life outside of school. It integrates their coursework with their individually-designed action research project. It also functions as an ongoing support structure for adult learners who have faced barriers to more traditional educational settings. Rather than assuming that students will apply and practice principles and theories learned in their coursework, the lab requires learners to do so through guided assignments like weekly Personal Learning Plans and Reflections, 1:1 meetings with faculty and mentors, and regular Public Exhibitions of their work. The Lab also provides time and space to ensure shared/integrated assessment practices across the students’ Personal Learning Networks.

Lab Faculty are hired to instruct the Workplace and World Lab course, develop and support a learning community, create course materials, and facilitate student engagement tied to the learning outcomes. Lab Faculty are hired with the expectation that they will support a student cohort, designed to be 10 -15 students, for multiple semesters. Full-time students enroll in a semester-long Workplace and World Lab as their foundational educational experience for each semester they are taking courses through CU. The course balances both requirements of a CU cohort: 1) building a learning community around project development; and, 2) supported individualized study and practice, where student and faculty map out a course of study/plan of action. Lab faculty meet weekly with each student individually to ensure adherence to their plan of study. Lab faculty also coordinate with instructional faculty to ensure integration of coursework across the learning plans of the cohort.

Minimum Qualifications for CU Lab Faculty

Education:
-Master’s degree.
-CU alumni with a bachelor’s degree and a minimum of one year of experience as an alumni mentor may be considered for WW Lab faculty roles. Enrollment in a graduate program is preferred for CU alumni.

Skills and abilities:
-Evidence of previous experience working effectively within a diverse community
-Relevant experience that evidences expertise in relevant course content
-Evidence of commitment to social change and a social change orientation, more specifically in educational settings
-Preferred - previous experience teaching, working with adult learners, and teaching within a diverse community of learners.

Lab Faculty Responsibilities:

Course Design and Instruction:

Adhere to and customize Workplace and World Lab syllabus for advisory cohort and current events. This includes enacting core requirements of each iteration of Workplace and World Lab:

- -Design and instruct weekly 3-hour in-person seminar for cohort. This includes suggesting and finding speakers, developing resources and materials, and facilitating learning and feedback.
- -Submit a syllabus in advance of each term following the college’s guidelines.
- -Ensure proper documentation of student learning to meet standards of CU and ensure the collection of all artifacts in the student’s online-portfolio.
- -Submit grades and written assessments to Dean’s Office at midterm and end-of-semester, assessing student progress toward learning goals.
- -Weekly 1:1 with each student.
- -Review student documented conversations with a professional mentor (at least two per 9-week session).
- -Attend Mid-semester and Final Learning Exhibitions.
- -Develop cohort-specific semester foci which could include: Research Methods, Building a Personal Learning Network, Action Research Project Proposal, Common text

Advising:

Weekly 1:1s with each student in cohort (20-25 minutes each) face-to-face, video or phone call. During this time Lab Faculty:

-Ensure each student submits a weekly Personal Learning Plans (PLP) that accurately reflects the ongoing needs of personal and project development, while also demonstrating course integration.

-Help facilitate and support students in building a Personal Learning Network composed of at least one professional mentor, a field expert, and peer invested in his/her success.

-Hold student accountable for cultivating this network through discussions (online or otherwise).

-Discuss any other aspects of project and professional development.

-Access and direct student to the appropriate support system. An important part of the work Lab Faculty do is helping students access any support services they may need to be successful in college. This list could include:

- - - Learning assistance related to their success in courses
    - Connecting students to case management for health care, housing, food, etc
    - Supportive coaching to students who may doubt their ability to succeed
-Communicate with each student’s Professional Mentor once per 9-week session

Professional Development:

Attendance in summer faculty orientation and professional development workshops as well as participation in ongoing professional development during the academic year. Contribute to the collaborative improvement of teaching, learning, and the student experience at College Unbound.

Administration:

-Keep accurate student attendance records

-Keep PLP engagement and other assignment completion records.

-Turn grades and narratives in on time.

For more information and how to apply, please visit the So You Want to Teach at CU page.